45 Astonishing Facts About Cows

Cows are the animals that influence our day-to-day lives with their milk, meat, and other dairy products. The cow is a herbivorous animal and eats mostly grass. The widely used domestic animal is considered as a wealthy animal; not only its milk has medical benefits, it has economic benefits too. Cow dung is also used as fuel and manure for organic farming. So here are 44 mind-blowing facts about this fantastic and useful animal.

1. The animal rights group PETA claims that cows can suffer humiliation if people laugh at them.
2. According to blood analyses, cows have been evolving for 5,00,000 years, long before modern humans were involved.
3. Dairy cows give yield more milk when they listen to calming music. It also relaxes the cows and decreases their stress levels.
4. For 42,000 years, humans used cow’s milk to paint with before anyone thought to drink it.
5. The gestation period of cows is the same as humans that is nine months.
6. A glass of cow’s milk has twice as much solid content as a tomato.
7. Cows have one stomach, and there are four compartments known as the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum.
8. Cows can walk upstairs but have difficulty in coming down as their knees can’t bend properly walking downstairs.
9. Cows rarely vomit, which is usually an ominous sign and most frequently a result of acute gastric distension.
10. A male cow can weigh about 1100 kg, and a female can weigh around 720 kg.
11. On 18 Feb 1930, elm farm ollie becomes the first cow to fly in an airplane. Her handler milked her and parachuted cartons of milk down to spectators below.
12. On average, a typical dairy cow lies down and stands up about 14 times a day.
13. Cows have a lifespan of over 20 years.
14. Cows drowse about 8 hours per day and sleep for about 4 hours a day. Adult cows do what is called polyphasic sleep, which means they sleep in small intervals throughout the day.
15. They like to be close to their families when they sleep.
16. Cows are color blind to red color. They have only two color receptors.
17. Cows heart beats over 60 to 70 beats per minute.
18. Cows generally like to Ruminant, and they do that about 40000 jaw movements per day.
19. Cows have weak eye muscles and slit-shaped pupils, which means they cannot focus on things quickly. They have poor depth perception because they have limited vertical vision of about 60 degrees, whereas humans have 140 degrees.
20. There are over 1.4 Billion cattle(cows) in the world. Out of which 159 million (11 percent) are in the region of Europe and Central Asia.
21. Cows make friends and get sad when they are separated from them.
22. Cows are believed as sacred animals in India, and there are over 300 million cows in the country itself.
23. If oregano is fed to cows, their methane emission reduces.
24. Cows can sleep while standing up.
25. A cow can give far more milk than a human can consume their lifetime. Any guesses? Almost 200,000 glasses full of milk!
26. Cows drink anywhere from 3-30 gallons(11-114 liters) of water each day.
27. Cows have an excellent sense of smell and can detect odors up to six miles away.
28. Cows can hear high and lower sound frequencies better than human beings, around 16 to 40,000 Hz.
29. Cows have 11 types of blood group systems which are A, B, C, F, J, L, M, R, S, T, and Z. There are over 60 different antigens in the blood group B, which make it challenging to match the donor and recipient closely.
30. The baby of cows is called calves. Calves weigh approximately 60(28kg) to 100(45 kg) pounds at birth.
31. Cows are dedicated mothers and can walk miles to find their cattle.
32. Within an hour of birth, Calves are able to stand, walk and nurse.
33. The very first milk produced by the cow after delivery is called colostrum. It contains essential nutrients and antibodies for the calf’s well-being, and the calf must receive colostrum in order to be healthy as an adult.
34. There are over 1000 breeds of cows that are recognized in the world today.
35. The first cows in America arrived with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage.
36. Cows produce about thirty percent of the methane in the atmosphere and counts as 70 kg and 120kg per year. Methane is 23 times more powerful than Co2 and leaves an adverse effect on the Climate.
37. Twelve or more cows are known as a “flink”.
38. Approximately 100 people die each year when they are stepped on by cows which is more than kills by sharks.
39. Cows are color blind. Bulls charge a matador’s cape because it is moving, not because it is red.
40. Cows do not have any upper front teeth. Instead, they have a thick pad on the top jaw.
41. Cattles have about 20,000 taste receptors and have developed a good sense of taste. The strength of perception of food depends on their requirements, and they avoid bitter-tasting foods.
42. Dairy cows can produce 40 to 150 liter of saliva a day.
43. On average, a cow can give about 8 gallons(30 liters) or 128 glasses of milk daily.
44. A Holstein’s spots are like a fingerprint or snowflake. No two cows have the same pattern of spots.
45. Cows have three types of teeth: incisors, premolars, and molars. They do have molars on the upper and lower jaw, but their incisors are only the lower jaw. As a cow gets older, their teeth show more wear.